“Today was probably the coldest day I’ve seen this winter,” Powers saidafter receiving 81.3 points to 79.6 for Canadian Michael Michaelchuck.Adam Petraska (Chester, VT), who lives perhaps 10 miles from Powers. Wasthird at 77.8. Riders huddled in -2 cold at the start for their finalruns. “We were trying to stay warm any way we could,” the winner said.

Michaelchuck, Powers, and Petraska. 2, 1, 3. Powers, who was second to Todd Richards a year ago when Grand Prix resultsdetermined the inaugural U.S. Olympic Snowboard Team, noted, “It’s niceto win here because I’ve never won at Mt. Bachelor.” Winning the WorldCup HP event Wednesday at the X-nix Mt. Bachelor Classic was a help, hesaid, because it helped him know how to deal with the disappearing lightby late afternoon.

In the women’s competition, Dunn received 67.4 points from the judgesfor her best two of three rides to 66.5 for Olympic teammate Cara-BethBurnside (Orange, CA). Tricia Byrnes (New Canaan, CT), who – like Powers- won a World Cup halfpipe Wednesday at Mt. Bachelor, finished third with66.3.

Shannon, and Tricia. Shannon made it to these awards. “The sun was out earlier but it really got cold once the sun went down,”Dunn said. “We just kept moving up at the top at the ‘pipe start areaso we could keep warm–kept our down jackets on as long as we could.

“This was such a good field, like the Olympics. And the ‘pipe was in suchgood shape. The Grand Prix is so much fun, just the best competition, butit was so-o-o cold, too,” she said. “I hadn’t even expected to competein this but I was visiting my friend Leslee Olson, an ex-world juniorchampion who lives in Bend and, well, I’m glad I entered it. The $10,000will make for nice Christmas shopping.”

The Chevy S-10 Grand Prix, starting its third season at Mt. Bachelor,has become the No. 1 domestic series of snowboard events. The next GrandPrix competitions will be Jan. 8-10 at Copper Mountain with the finalevents Feb. 26-28 at Sunday River, Maine. The top riders will be invitedto compete in the Super Finals as part of the X-nix U.S. Snowboard championshipMarch 22-28 at Okemo Mountain, Vt.